The present invention is directed to a material support system for supporting items, such as individual items, for example, items being merchandised at a retail store, or the like. The invention may also be applied to containers of items, such as pallets or totes. The invention is applicable to a retail store merchandising system, namely, a system of retail store shelves, or the like. The invention is also applicable to a warehouse material-handling system, such as an automatic storage and retrieval system, or the like.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are used as a replacement for barcodes. RFID tags are capable of providing significantly greater information than barcodes and are capable of being read irrespective of the orientation of the item bearing the RFID tag. An RFID tag emits radio frequency signals containing information stored on the RFID tag when excited by an RFID reader. RFID readers typically operate to read the RFID tag as an item is transported past the stationary reader. Alternatively, the RFID reader may be a handheld device that is manually scanned past the item bearing the RFID tag.